Category: Mental Training

Everyone knows there are no shortcuts to running success, or at least they should by now. If we want to race our best, we have to work hard training our bodies and our minds. When it comes to mental training, most of us think of things like visualization exercises and mantras. These are great, but they get boring. I want a way to train my running brain that’s fun and effective!

I was inspired to write this post after listening to the Final Surge podcast with Steve Magness. He mentioned a study that compared the pain levels and emotional responses of athletes to that of Buddhist monks. The study found that when both an athlete and a monk were exposed to the same pain variable, the monks’ MRI scans showed a less emotional response to the pain than the athletes’ did. Magness then talked about how he started incorporating little things, like ice baths, into his athletes’ programs to help train their minds. As the Official Salty Running Mindfulness Expert™, I beamed as I pictured all the fun and different challenges we could take to train our brains. Here are five! Read more >>

It’s time for one of our favorite features of the year: Our Twelve Days of Christmas! Leading up to our holiday break from regular posting (December 24 – January 2), some of us Saltines will be sharing our personal stories about what running has given us. You can check out last year’s series here.

Housework is usually far down the list of “things I want to be doing right now”. My attitude toward it can range from totally indifferent to really bad. No matter how often I clean the kitchen, scrub the bathroom, or put my running clothes in the washer, I’ll be doing exactly the same thing again this time next week … and the week after that … and so on and so forth.

It took me about 25 years to realize that running’s constant laundry offering is not, in fact, annoying, or a burden. It’s a gift!

When it comes to yoga, I’m a streaker. Wait, that didn’t come out right. What I mean to say is that I tend to attend a bunch of yoga classes all at once, usually during a break from running, and then attend sporadically when my training ramps back up. Balance, you know.

I love yoga (yes, not all of us here at Salty Running hate it). I love it for the yogi’s high (is that a thing?), but also because it makes me a tougher runner. It makes me tougher physically: the exercises help me to build upper body and core strength and activate all the leg muscles that high mileage tends to make out of whack. However, the biggest benefit for me is that yoga improves my mental toughness! Yoga teachers may catch some flak for sounding kooky at times, but many are full of wisdom. Some of their advice might even remind you of Ginger’s tips for being more mindful when you run.

So even if you’re a yoga hater (*cough* Salty *cough*), here is why you should consider mixing in some yoga to your training.

Lately, I have been struggling with accepting and publicizing that I am really only running because I don’t want to have to purchase a new wardrobe.

I have been mostly silent about it here, but since starting my career in academia, running has quickly become a different part of my identity. Ultrarunning, at least for now, has become a less salient part of who I am, in identity development terms. “Cilantro the ultrarunner” is now more “Cilantro the professor” or “Cilantro the feminist researcher.” While the shift is natural and appropriate to the new challenges of my role and the very tough first year as a professor, it does not mean that I don’t feel a bit lost.

For so long, I was the ultrarunning Ph.D. student, and that identity guided my decisions, my introductions, and framed how I saw myself fitting into the world. I am struggling now to recognize and accept this new version of myself and striving to keep perspective on my constantly shifting identity as a runner. Read more >>

Can one will her way from a boring job, stagnated running, and general malaise to European bliss?

Approximately one year ago I decided I needed a major change. I was feeling very dissatisfied with many aspects of my life. I hated my job. I enjoyed my city, but I was no longer feeling fulfilled there. My roommate was less than desirable. I was tired of dating men who didn’t take me seriously at all. Even my running goals were stagnating. One night when I was feeling particularly anxious, I took out my favorite journal and I practiced some positive manifestation.

What’s that, you ask? In a nutshell, the main idea behind positive manifestation is that you will your way to success. Not just believing, trying, or saying you can, although those are certainly included. Rather, you use your will to attract positive energy to manifest into your achieving your goals. Some call it voodoo, some call it magic, some call it The Secret, and some call it bullshit.

Regardless of what you think of this strategy, one thing is certain: maintaining a positive attitude throughout difficult patches in life and having goals at the forefront of your consciousness is incredibly powerful.

Pick any classic New England fall Saturday between 1988 and 1997: cold, crisp air, blazing foliage, the smell of woodsmoke, and a mass of nervous teenage girls in polyester singlets that never lose their funk, standing twitchily behind a chalk line on a muddy field.

I stand with the few other girls on my cross-country team, hopping from foot to foot and trying to ignore the dread roiling my stomach. There were so many thoughts in my mind at any given time that it’s hard to distill them down, but they were usually something like:

Ugh. Does my hair look stupid? Running makes my hair look stupid. Also it’s so annoying to be so slow and I hate it that I always start out too fast and my hair is so stupid.

I could already feel the way my legs would turn to lead and my mood would tank by 10 minutes in. Sure enough, I’d start with a seven-something first mile before slowly disintegrating into a jogging, self-pitying mess, crossing the chalk line again in 24-whatever and never getting any faster.

Despite a lack of any apparent talent, and my aversion to races*, I always loved to run: cross country and track in middle and high school, more cross country in college. Of course, as Ginger has explored, you can’t know how “talented” you are until you actually try. Looking back I realize I never found out whether I could have run faster, limited by my belief that you either could run fast or you couldn’t. The speedy girls running 18 minute 5k’s in high school? I had no clue that they were as angsty as I was about running, that they worked hard for their wins and, in some cases, suffered hard with eating disorders, anxiety, and depression. Stunningly oblivious for a person with so many A’s on her report card, I figured they were just lucky to be fast while I missed out on the speed genes. Read more >>

I ran the Olympic Trials marathon course dozens of times before I ever made it to LA. The repetitive loops, the water stop navigation, the turns through the University of Southern California, the elation of the finish. I ran it all in my mind—never having taken a step on the streets. On race day, my mind was as prepared to handle the grueling 26.2 miles as my legs.

Visualization is a powerful tool for athletes. When we visualize performing an action, it activates the same brain areas we use when we actually perform that action. Visualizing a race primes your mental muscle the way speedy intervals condition your legs and lungs. By mentally rehearsing running relaxed and smooth in a goal race, you get your brain used to that state of things, so you’re ready to run relaxed and smooth on race day.

Want to use visualization to help nail your next goal race? Here are a few ways to add it to your running game. Read more >>

Yesterday, on my way out of the gym, I held the door for another woman who was also on her way out. “Thank you!” she said, “And by the way, you run REALLY fast!” I didn’t know how to respond so I nervously laughed and said, “Oh! Thanks, but–” She interrupted, “I saw you run 7.5 on the treadmill and I think I would blackout if I ran that fast!” For whatever reason, I couldn’t muster a simple thank you and move on. Instead I launched into a complicated explanation about intervals, speed training, and the difference between those paces and easy pace.

On the drive home, I reflected on this interaction. What compelled me to feel like I had to explain myself to this woman? The truth is, I felt like if I had accepted her compliment about my speed, I’d be a fraud. A simple thank you would need a disclaimer: Thank you, but I can only do that sometimes. Usually I’m quite slow. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how often I do this in all areas of my life. Nice outfit? Thanks, but I bought it on clearance. Nice blog post? Thanks, but it felt really hard to write. It all ends up being a battle of the reality others see versus the impostor I view as myself.

I have a bad case of impostor syndrome and it’s holding me back as a runner. Read more >>

Speed-work: we do it to train for every race distance. It’s our chance to practice running at our target race pace, taking on the challenge in small pieces before stringing it together into a race on our big day. I thought I had plenty of experience with hard speed workouts training for the 5K and the10K, but I was completely unprepared for mile race speed-work. For mile training, speed work means running REALLY hard.

I started out chronicling my journey to a brave mile by telling you my reasons for tackling this distance. Then, I told you about the stamina training I do to build the strength to hold a fast pace for a whole mile. This week, I’ll talk about my mile-specific speed-work.

Improving your speed for the mile involves setting a baseline, priming your nervous system and building strength with sprints, and tackling mile-specific hard interval workouts. Read more >>

It only matters what I do and what I’ve done when I’m on the race course.

This week, I posted my first training log with a little bit of hesitation. You might look at my training and think it’s a lot. But sadly, I look at it and think it doesn’t compare to what my peers are doing.

It’s the Internet’s fault. I’ll be scrolling through other runners’ Twitter, Instagram, or blogs and suddenly come across posts, photos, or workouts that make me feel really bad about myself. How can so-and-so run those workouts? That many miles each week? That fast?

I don’t mean superstars like Shalane and Desi. Obviously I can’t do what they do, so I look at their posts with pure admiration. But I mean the women I’m supposedly close in ability to, other Trials qualifiers with marathon PRs similar to mine. They all seem to be logging much higher mileage, running more workouts, doing more pull-ups (I can do exactly zero pull-ups), just absolutely crushing it day after day after day. It’s hard for me to look at the mileage and workouts others do and not feel totally inadequate. Read more >>

Mindfulness is about noticing all of the thought bubbles, much like watching clouds in the sky.

The mindfulness movement has been around for ages, but it’s only recently that it’s made its way into the mainstream. Mindfulness is defined as intentional awareness, or intentionally paying attention to the environment around you. It involves observing your environment through the five senses and more importantly, not judging the thoughts and feelings as good or bad as they occur.

Instead of reacting to a thought or feeling, we learn through mindfulness to become an observer. As a result, we develop a new relationship with thoughts and feelings. Of particular value to competitive runners like us, is learning to make nice with discomfort.

That’s right, no matter what your preconceived notions are, mindfulness is not just about being a happier runner. Learning how to be mindful can help even the most competitive runner race better!

I recently found myself standing on the starting line of the 44th annual Portland Marathon. Along the journey to that moment, I did all the right things. I signed up with a coach and followed her workouts to a tee. I pushed myself to hit paces in my workouts that I used to think were unreachable. I believed I was capable of running a 3:25 marathon, which would be a ten minute PR.

It was time to stop doubting myself and to trust in my training, but as I stood there I knew in that moment that a ten minute PR was not lying before me on those 26.2 miles of Portland road. What was this self-doubt? Was it nerves? Was it self-sabotage? Whatever it was, I felt deep within myself that this would not be that breakthrough race I have been striving for.

At that point, I still had a few minutes and 26.2 miles to run and more importantly decisions to make. Read more >>

Staying in the shadows while my inner monster contemplates world domination.

Like most little kids, I was afraid of monsters. The Wicked Witch of the West would give me nightmares for days. And don’t get me started on those flying monkeys! I made the mistake of believing my brother when he told me Chuckie was just an ugly looking doll and what bad things could a doll do? I’ll let you cringe at that one for a second….

But, I’ve learned, despite my Gremlin filled childhood, that monsters can be helpful and powerful when used for good and don’t get fed after midnight. And we all have one inside of us, just hanging out, waiting for you to text.

Did you know that each of us runners has one and that if we feed it and nurture it, this little inner beast can help us make our happiest running dreams come true?Read more >>

It’s been no surprise to me that people are curious about Badwater – and even more curious about how one even begins to train for it. There’s certainly not the wealth of “couch to Badwater” training programs that there are for the 5K, 10K, and half marathon distances; even my non-runner friends who are able to get their heads around 100-milers have been stymied anew by this latest adventure of mine. Extra miles, extra hills, extra heat – well, extra everything. Which, it turns out, is a pretty accurate description of my training – extra everything.

The elephant in the room: how much time is this taking? Two to five hours on weekdays, longer on the weekends. I break it up between early morning and evening sessions. I am lucky and grateful to have two fantastic employers and a flexible work schedule. I am blessed beyond measure to have a husband who supports me, puts up with this, and above all else, inspired me with his own Badwater completion in 2013 – on his 50th birthday, no less.

To my mind, there are four critical components of training: distance, hills, heat and mental acuity/sleep deprivation. A focus on those disciplines alone is immensely time-consuming and still omits two very real wild cards: wind and altitude. Here’s an insider’s look at what I’ve been doing – and why. Read more >>